Skyline Trail closed due to dangerous ice conditions following several rescues
The California Department of Parks and Recreation has closed the Skyline Trail near the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway due to dangerous ice conditions.
The Skyline Route will be closed from the 5,800 feet park boundary to the top of the route where it intersects with the Desert View Trail.
Officials said all hikers planning on hiking the Cactus to Clouds hike should postpone it until further notice.
This comes after several rescues in the past couple of days on the trail.
On Thursday, a state park ranger fell 100ft into a ravine while attempting to rescue to hikers who were left stranded on Skyline Trail, near the Palm Springs Tram. The hikers and an additional state park ranger ended up stranded on the trail for several hours due to icy conditions.
The hikers and the ranger were eventually brought down. The ranger who fell suffered minor injuries.
On Saturday, rescue crews were back to that same trail to rescue three more hikers who were left ended up trapped on the trail because of snow and ice conditions.
Hiking during icy conditions and winter weather can be very dangerous
Mt. San Jacinto chief ranger Mike Dippel spoke with News Channel 3's Marian Bouchot on Saturday to share tips for people getting ready to hike on local mountain trails.
